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The EU funded robotics project ESMERA – the European SMEs Robotics Applications – has opened its second open call to help fund small businesses developing robotic solutions for enterprise applications.

Within that call, industrial end-users have defined specific challenges that are to be solved by introducing a robotics solution.

Continental’s technology for driverless vehicles will be in production for the first time in French company EasyMile’s EZ10 autonomous shuttle. Continental has held a stake in this driverless vehicle manufacturer since 2017.

Driverless robo-taxis will become an important part of mobility in urban centers, helping to reduce traffic congestion and increase efficiency, says the company.

Driverless transport systems of this kind are still rare. Small autonomous shuttle buses with room for several passengers – which also qualify as robo-taxis – have driven on short, straightforward public routes during pilot projects and in designated areas at airports, hospitals, universities, and exhibition grounds.

Small businesses should keep their cashiers, according to the 2019 Cox Business Consumer Pulse on Small Businesses in the US.

The Amazon Go cashier-less shopping model is only of growing interest among respondents ages 18-29 – up eight percentage points from last year. Seventy-seven percent of surveyed consumers prefer to interact with other people at the checkout.

The preference for person-to-person interaction likely has to do with the level of service small businesses deliver. Fifty-three percent of surveyed consumers said small businesses provide better customer service than larger businesses.

SimpleFuel is a small water electrolysis-based machine for
hydrogen generation and filling that can produce, store, and supply hydrogen by
making use of electricity generated from solar power.

It uses electricity from solar panels at the plant site to
produce low-carbon hydrogen from the electrolysis of water, which is then
supplied to fuel-cell (FC) forklifts after it is compressed and pressurised.